Only about 10 per cent of the estimated 88 quarries operating in this country are licenced to do so according to the Trinidad and Tobago Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
And the Initiative's chairman said the amount unpaid royalties from operators in the sector is now estimated at around 194 million TT dollars.
Drones are now being used to monitor the quarrying sector as a safety precaution, as an EMA official says illegally quarrying "could be a violent and rugged place".
Juhel Browne reports.
